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Siegel student Brad Strode wore Michael Vick’s red No. 7 jersey to school Tuesday.
Strode, a junior on the Stars’ football team, has been a Vick fan for all six years of the Atlanta Falcons quarterback’s NFL career. And while Vick has pled guilty to dogfighting and faces jail time for his transgressions, Strode says Vick can be forgiven and, in time, be seen as a role model again.
“He set examples on and off the field,” Strode said. “He always had a foundation. He donated from that to (Hurricane) Katrina victims and helped out citizens all across the world. I still look up to him now regardless of all the things he’s done.”
Yet Strode won’t be able to watch Vick play football this season, maybe the saddest truth in this whole ordeal — that someone so gifted has, perhaps, wasted his talent forever.
“It doesn’t change what he is as a player, but he’s lost everything now,” Oakland senior Richard Nelson said. “He had everything and he kind of threw it away.”
Vick was Siegel junior Chuck McCord’s favorite player because of his uniqueness as a quarterback.
“The way he ran… it was a new style of quarterbacking to the NFL,” McCord said. “I just thought his career would skyrocket, and it was.
“… He was an African-American quarterback. He made it. … He went through some things I’ve been through. I see him as a role model.”
Hall of Fame basketball player Charles Barkley once encouraged youths to look to their parents for guidance rather than star athletes by saying, “I am not a role model.” But MTCS junior Devin Brunsvold feels like, because of their status, professional athletes should be role models.
“A lot of times they are, just because they’re so good at what they do,” Brunsvold said. “Most of the time they do set great examples, it’s just a few that don’t. But that shouldn’t ruin it for the rest of the people that are still doing right. That’s a lot of dedication to make it that far.”
La Vergne senior Randall Tillery feels as though Vick’s position as a role model has taken a severe hit.
“I’m sort of disappointed because athletes of that standard should keep a good public image,” Tillery said. “All of us have standards to uphold, to show good leadership.”
MTCS senior Glenn Hollandsworth says Vick’s actions are inexcusable.
“He did something wrong and he’s a star,” Hollandsworth said. “A lot of people look up to him, especially the young kids. He’s got to be responsible for his actions.”
Vick issued a public apology Monday, one Strode felt was genuine.
“I think he’s remorseful,” Strode said. “I think he will be allowed back in the league after serving his time.
“What he did was wrong, and he’s paying the consequences for his actions. I think he’ll learn from it.”
By ROGER GARFIELD
rgarfield@dnj.com
— Roger Garfield, (615) 278-5168
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